October 26, 2005

Costco To Parents: Wipe THIS

First the Pampers get replaced with some sand-filled Kirkland private label diapers.

Then they reformulate what were once THE best diaper wipes around, bar none, and turn them into flimsy, pull-apart-able, "Cotton Enhanced" [damn you, cotton industrial complex lobbyists!] pieces of undifferentiated junk that should probably go straight into the Diaper Genie.

So while I wait to hear back from Costco's friendly-but-powerless customer service reps, run-don't-walk to Costco and stock up on the old school pink-n-blue cases of diaper wipes. NOTE: If the box is predominantly blue, and there are only 88 wipes per pack, not 96, it's already too late for you, too.

The only hope is for a diaper wipe industry mole to slip me the name of the private label manufacturer for Kirkland's old formulation...

17 Comments

You gotta be careful with COSTCO, in the end we found that Wal-mart consistently had lower prices on name brand diapers, and their private label wipes were just fine. Also, when we read the label on the COSTCO formula we found they were cheating Little Peanut on her DHA and AHA so we went back to Enfamil. That was also cheaper at Wal-mart. Downside: you have to go to Wal-mart.

But who wants to buy from a company that doesn't treat its employees well? I won't use my baby as an excuse to ruin my community. I shop at Costco specifically because they pay a living wage (and then some) and yet still have good prices.

If Costco doesn't do it for you, try Winco (an employee-owned grocery chain). They're oodles cheaper than most grocery and chain stores, and compete well against Costco on food/baby products (and, you don't have to buy bulk like Costco).

Expect Costco's diapers to change again in six months or a year. Never get too attached to any one product there.

[six months to a year, I think/hope I'll be sitting a round out of the diaper market... -ed]

on the diaper front, we've found that the Baby Basics store brand available through the Albertson's grocery chain are excellent in quality and value, 17¢ @ diaper. I have a feeling we've missed the last of the *good* Kirkland wipes... any advice on comparable quality/cost wipes? (we're almost out, thanks!)

We're fans of the Target unscented Pampers-like wipes they sell in the large packages. They also have some cotton-like Huggies but it feels like I'm using an actual washcloth those things are so thick.

We've sold ourselves to Target in exchange for a closet full of diapers and wipes.

For what its worth our daycare uses nothing but Bounty (not Brawny, specifically NO Brawny) to wipes butts, noses, spills, everything. They just wet them and they become the universal tool. We don't do it at home and we thought it was weird at first but it makes a lot of sense. We bring in (5) rolls a month and on when sale at Target the 8 pack is $5-6.

Why I did this with the first and not with the twins is a mystery, but I used to make my own (John's Bounty comment reminded me). Saw a roll of Bounty in half with a bread knife or that dumb electric carving knife you never use, put it in a right-sized tupperwear container, mix 1 cup of water, 1-2 T of Baby Magic, and a teaspoon of baby oil and pour into the core. When the core's wet through, pull it out, and start pulling from the center. They smell lovely, are cheap and sturdy. Little Mary Sunshine's daycare loved them and used them for everything.

We've always used the BJ's brand (Berkley and Jansen - I think) wipes and they're great. So much cheaper and sturdier than the fancy ones. Plus, when you take one out of the box - you only get one - not the one you took and the eight others attached to it.

Already too late for us. Went last week and were unpleasantly surprised by the new box but purchased anyway hoping it was just a package redesign. We hadn't as yet opened them (we were finishing the old case). Now our depression sets in.

[i may have over-reacted a little about how bad they are. they're bad; don't get me wrong. But in the absence of an alternative, it's good to know they're less bad than Huggies. -ed.]

You know, we used to use the Kirkland wipes all the time. After about year, though, our daughter started getting rashy. We switched back to the expensive Pampers brand and actually found we had to use fewer wipes because of the higher quality. And her rash went away without having to use buckets of butt paste. So I'm not too sad about this development, but I'm hoping they'll still be good enough for emergencies and other uses.

just started using them - have noticed pretty much no difference other than aesthetics (they look different), and they pull eachother out of the holder (sticky because of texture). other than that, they're doing same job. what's the big deal?

[after my first full day with them, I should adjust my rage a bit; they're spongy and pull and pull, but they don't pull apart the way Huggies do. And I guess the older ones are smoother the way a polyester shirt is smooth vs a cotton shirt. So my freakout may have enough rage in it for several people to share it. I freak out so you don't have to. -ed.]

Apparently the Canadian Kirkland wipes aren't the same as the American ones. The Kirkland wipes up north are oversoaked sandpaper. They are so wet you need a mop to clean up after, not to mention that your poor kids butt is red from all the friction. Consider yourselves lucky to have had good Kirkland wipes for this long.

I nanny for quads, and we used
a. Huggies wipes. Loved the thickness. then..
b. Target wipes- same as Huggies and now..
c. Kirkland wipes. We love them, love that they come in their own pouch so there is no container to refill, love their level of wetness... However, they do pull each other out. Sometimes I need to use two hands.

Also, the Kirkland diapers are the very first store brand diapers that we like. No Target/Meijer/WalMart/BRU -- didn't like any of them. Pampers were #1, Huggies a distant second... I still prefer Pampers but the Kirklands are doing the job well.

Woo hah! I don't know if it was a return or a mystery box that they found in the back, but as I was standing in line the other day at Costco, I spotted the old familiar pink/blue box of wipes sitting atop a stack of the new blue boxes of wipes... sadly, it was only one box.

I felt like a champ, which really says something pathetic about me, eh?

Never got a chance to try the old ones, but I actually think the current Kirkland wipes are pretty nice. As mentioned above, sometimes they pull each other out, but the contained pouch, never having to refill, and the thickness is great for this new dad.

Haven't tried to new Costco wipes, but thanks for the warning. Our last batch was Walmart brand (Costco was closed), but the wife doesn't like the fact that the wipes don't pop up (maybe she opened them wrong?). Not too thrilled with the diaper thing, but they are still relatively cheap and haven't had any leaks. If I could get the wife to clip coupons we could probably get Pampers cruisers a lot cheaper, but such is life. Kirkland formula was crap, so at least they seem to have the best price on Enfamil.

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